Introduction

Trick or Treat Month returns... and this time it's personal! Join us for another month of spooky themes and special surprise guest apparitions! Try not to get too scared!

And so we close the ancient, flesh-bound spell book on another Trick or Treat Month... but we're going out on top, baby! Alexis Nikole Nelson has appeared, as if by magic, to lead us into the deep, dark woods and point out all the slimy, sticky, gross stuff on the ground that she says we can eat. I guess I trust her! 

SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces! 

Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter! A big thank you to Patreon subscribers Garth Riley and Glenn Trewitt for helping to make the show possible!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[This or That]

Round 1 - Blue glowing slime

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/tube-worm-slime-displays-long-lasting-self-powered-glow

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5103273/

Round 2 - Eating parents’ slime

https://animalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42523-023-00243-x

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/caecilians-limbless-amphibian-skin-feeding-young-cloaca

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101029104603.htm

https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pmic.200500591

Round 3 - Snottites

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3246232/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/see-the-ugly-beauty-that-lives-in-a-toxic-cave

Round 4 - Mating plug

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/218/9/1410/14572/Size-dependence-in-non-sperm-ejaculate-production

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005596707591

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564092/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mrd.22689

[Trivia Tiebreaker]

Hagfish slime on road

https://www.southernfriedscience.com/your-car-has-just-been-crushed-by-hagfish-frequently-asked-questions/

[Ask the Science Couch]

Slime molds and biocomputers

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/physarum-polycephalum

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55749-9

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5755296/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12668-014-0156-3

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23713-slime-mould-could-make-memristors-for-biocomputers/

https://techhq.com/2023/04/biocomputers-an-alternative-to-quantum-computing/

[Butt One More Thing]

Bird nestling fecal sac / mucus membrane 

https://www.audubon.org/news/what-are-fecal-sacs-bird-diapers-basically

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jav.00353